34 Try Something New

John remained expressionless for a long time before slowly speaking, "For couple."

Anna Allen's eyes were filled with smiles and surprise. She really wanted to ask if it was the young lady who came that day, but seeing John's stiff profile, she nodded and left.

John took out his phone and wanted to call Alice, but hesitated to press the call button. In the end, he decided to send a text message instead.

"Let's have dinner together on Christmas Eve at the Roosevelt Western Restaurant. Then you can leave at any time to handle work." He carefully read the text message he input - in fact, he almost never sends texts - and thought this kind of proposal was considerate, she probably wouldn't refuse.

As expected, early birds catch worms, Alice took the earliest subway to the hotel and happened to meet Mr. Thompson, who was on duty the night before. He was surprised to ask, "Why are you here so early?"

Alice answered seriously, "Christmas Eve is coming up, and I still need to prepare some details." Mr. Thompson's approving gaze made her feel that waking up early was worth it.

She changed into her uniform and worked hard, then received the message, she was annoyed - she really couldn't determine if John was joking or not.

She thought about it for the whole morning before replying, "But I am concerned about my work and my bonus." However, one shouldn't be too ungrateful, she didn't mention him taking her to the hospital but was always grateful, so replied to his message.

John was in a conference, and his phone vibrated. He looked down and wore an unpleasant expression. He didn't even hear the summary of the finance department's report. Such a bad mood could affect others easily, and everyone was on edge - their CEO also remained silent.

The conference ended, and he sat alone in the conference room for a long time, then received another text message, "I'll be free at 7:00 pm on the 25th. Would you like to have dinner with me?"

He suddenly felt relieved and replied immediately, "Sure." Getting up, he instructed Anna as he passed by the secretary's office, "Cancel the Roosevelt reservation. I'll still attend the charity banquet."

Anna froze for a moment and couldn't help but remind, "it's difficult to make a reservation for the Roosevelt couple's dinner, Mr. Williams. Do you…"

John lazily waved his hand and said, "it's up to you."

"What about the female companion for the banquet?" Anna asked persistently.

Half an hour later, Jack received a call from the CEO's secretary's office.

"Director Wright, for Christmas Eve, a platinum lovers' candlelight dinner at Roosevelt Western Restaurant."

"I didn't make any reservation. What's this?" Jack was confused.

Anna carefully replied, "This is a reward for top management. If you don't like it, please let me know."

"… I do like. I like it very much!" Jack quickly agreed, realizing he would be a fool to refuse.

When she saw Lily at dinner, Alice felt somewhat guilty, afraid she might invite her to celebrate Christmas together.

As they were the only real friends Alice had, they relied on each other. Sitting opposite Lily, Alice was relieved that Lily didn't bring up Christmas. They chatted casually and left the staff canteen together.

Alice held Lily's hand and suddenly laughed, "Do you remember the time we stuffed ourselves at Christmas?"

"Yeah, you still remember that?" Lily tapped her forehead and laughed.

That year, they finished work early and intentionally didn't eat in the staff cafe. They do underestimate the enthusiasm of the people. Everywhere was packed, and they were disheartened to find that some unfamous restaurants had long queues.

Alice angered, dragged Lily into the supermarket, where they grabbed an enormous cake. They were so hungry and ate before paying. The security guard politely asked them to go to the office.

Lily screamed that it was a lifelong shame, and while saying so, they totally finished the cake. That way, two single ladies comforted each other on Christmas night. Alice couldn't turn over for more than two hours when she got home. She ate too much.

She looked at the lake and said, "Actually, working in the hotel industry is tiring, but it's really good." Lily didn't respond, stopped in her tracks, and asked, "What's wrong with you? You look unhappy."

Alice said seriously, "To be honest, sometimes, I do wanna try something new."

Lily laughed for a while, then remembered something, "The interns will be here soon, you can distribute them then."

Alice nodded and snapped back to reality, "it's out of my hands. Isn't it the HR department's job?"

Lily shook her head, "Mr Davis is on a long business trip, you'll have to manage it temporarily, but it's easy."

She agreed and wrapped herself in a thick coat to walk back to the office. It was indeed different on Christmas Eve. The courtyard was full of luxury cars, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini. Handsome gentlemen and young beautiful ladies went in and out.

Seeing too much of it, one becomes numb, beneath the shiny surface, there might be ugly, dark truths. Alice watched those gentlemen and ladies coldly, thinking disappointedly, "Do they really love each other?"